{"id":32448,"date":"2016-10-11T17:07:57","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T23:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=32448"},"modified":"2016-10-11T17:07:57","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T23:07:57","slug":"10-awesome-books-for-the-days-of-awe-and-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/10-awesome-books-for-the-days-of-awe-and-after\/","title":{"rendered":"10 awesome books for the Days of Awe (and after)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(JTA) &#8212; Here is a new fall season of Jewishy books, including the first novel since 5766 (by now almost 40-year-old) wunderkind Jonathan Safran Foer \u2014 perhaps you\u2019ve heard the buzz.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32449\" style=\"width: 205px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32449\" class=\"wp-image-32449 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"Here_I_Am\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am.jpg 625w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 195px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 195\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32449\" class=\"wp-image-32449 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"Here_I_Am\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Here_I_Am.jpg 625w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-32449\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Safran Foer&#8217;s &#8220;Here I Am.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Presented below is JSF\u2019s latest, plus nine other volumes, from the humorous to the humbling, that you\u2019ll want on your reading list to help heighten the holidays.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2ctKkTI\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Here I Am: A Novel <\/strong><\/a>(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)<br \/>\n<em>By Jonathan Safran Foer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here he is! Foer\u2019s latest effort, his first novel in more than a decade, is (as expected) both extremely long and incredibly complex. Inspired by Abraham\u2019s concise claim of fatherly responsibility in the Book of Genesis, the 592-page narrative follows a Jewish American family as it fractures over a tumultuous four weeks during which the world itself literally splits apart when a devastating earthquake in the Middle East leads to a major military escalation in Israel. The stakes are high \u2014 but the questions raised by Foer are personal and get to the fundamental duties of being an American, a Jew, a parent and a spouse.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2cjjU9F\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>A Gambler\u2019s Anatomy<\/strong><\/a> (Doubleday)<br \/>\n<em>By Jonathan Lethem<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Yes, it&#8217;s another book by another very notable Jewish Jonathan. And if you\u2019ve been waiting for a novel about an international backgammon hustler from Berkeley who also happens to be psychic, then this new tome from the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of &#8220;Motherless Brooklyn&#8221; and &#8220;The Fortress of Solitude&#8221; is \u2026 well, just what you\u2019ve been waiting for. With an intriguing cast of characters (obviously) and full of unanticipated twists (surely you anticipated that), Lethem\u2019s latest is an artfully told story the likes of which could not emerge from the mind of any other writer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2c8s1Eu\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Searching for John Hughes: Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from Watching \u201980s Movies<\/strong><\/a> (William Morrow)<br \/>\n<em>By Jason Diamond<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Millions of American children of the 1980s grew up obsessed with the films of John\u00a0Hughes \u2014 from &#8220;Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off&#8221; to &#8220;Pretty in Pink&#8221; to &#8220;The Breakfast Club&#8221; \u2014 but perhaps only Diamond became convinced he must find\u00a0Hughes\u00a0and write the icon\u2019s biography (despite lacking any experience or connections). In recounting the hilarious and hopeless quest, Diamond\u2019s memoir tells the story of a Jewish kid from a broken home in suburban Chicago who found inspiration in\u00a0Hughes\u2019 similarly broken characters. Diamond moved to New York on a leap of faith, failed, persisted and did, indeed, become a successful writer.\u00a0So even if Diamond never did write\u00a0Hughes&#8217; life story, he found richness in his own.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2c8rUbY\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Between Life and Death<\/strong><\/a> (Restless Books)<br \/>\n<em>By Yoram Kaniuk, translated by Barbara Harshav<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-32450 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"Between_Life_Death\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death.jpg 351w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 211px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 211\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-32450 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"Between_Life_Death\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Between_Life_Death.jpg 351w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>In the highly regarded Israeli writer\u2019s final work \u2014 he died\u00a0in 2013 \u2014 Kaniuk has crafted a dreamlike, autobiographical novel describing the four months he spent comatose in a Tel Aviv hospital, somewhere between the worlds of the living and the dead. A mix of memory, illusion and imagination, the writing shifts from recollection of a childhood spent among Holocaust survivors to a retelling of the 1948 War of Independence to a reflection on what it means to die. Originally published in Israel in 2007, &#8220;Between Life and Death&#8221; now has a chance to entrance American readers thanks to Harshav\u2019s faithful and lyrical English translation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2cGBQaq\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing<\/strong><\/a> (Atria Books)<br \/>\n<em>By Jennifer Weiner<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The best-selling author behind the plus-size heroine-driven novels like &#8220;Good in Bed&#8221; and &#8220;In Her Shoes&#8221;\u00a0puts herself in the protagonist\u2019s role with this honest and entertaining collection of first-person essays. From her earliest days as the daughter of bookish Jewish parents in suburban New England \u2014 she learned to read at 4 and had her first poem published at 8 \u2014 Weiner\u2019s memoir takes readers through ups and downs such as her first publisher\u2019s advance, marriage, motherhood and weight issues, as well as divorce and the trials of miscarriage (then there\u2019s the part where her beloved father abandons his four kids and their late-in-life lesbian mother). You\u2019ll also find some insightful parenting tips and plenty of examples from her uproarious Twitter feed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2cXcSWO\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The One Man<\/strong><\/a> (Minotaur)<br \/>\n<em>By Andrew Gross<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Books on the Holocaust have long since become their own genre, but rarely is a Nazi death camp the setting for a fictional thriller. In Gross\u2019 twist on history, it\u2019s 1944 and the American effort to build a nuclear bomb \u2014 the Manhattan Project \u2014 lacks one vital component. The one man with the needed expertise is a Jewish physicist incarcerated in Auschwitz; the one man who can rescue him is a Jewish desk-bound U.S. intelligence officer who had escaped from Nazi-occupied Poland. Sounds crazy, no? As suspense novels go, this one is rich in historical detail and reflective on the wide-ranging spectrum of human nature, from hope to brutality.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2c8ssyz\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Secret Book of Kings: A Novel <\/strong><\/a>(St. Martin\u2019s Press)<br \/>\n<em>By Yochi Brandes, translated by Yardenne Greenspan<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Triggering comparisons to &#8220;The Red Tent,&#8221; Brandes, an Israeli biblical scholar descended from a line of Hasidic rabbis, has penned an imaginative look at the ancient kingdoms of Israel. Brandes is one of the\u00a0best-selling novelists in Israel, and her latest is now\u00a0available in Greenspan\u2019s flowing English translation. Based on textual sources about those well-known kings David, Saul and Solomon, Brandes\u2019 plot is rife with little twists to original narratives that only knowledgeable, critical readers may spot. As such, this adventure story\/mystery is also a dramatic act of modern biblical interpretation \u2014 yet just as compelling a read for the uninitiated.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2c8rrH2\" target=\"_blank\">Atlas Obscura: An Explorer\u2019s Guide to the World\u2019s Hidden Wonders<\/a><\/strong> (Workman Publishing Company<strong>)<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>By Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, Ella Morton<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well, what do you know? Jonathan isn\u2019t the only Foer with a new book this month. &#8220;Walking with Einstein&#8221; author Joshua Foer, along with co-writers Thuras and Morton, have compiled an unconventional travel guide featuring 700 \u201cof the strangest and most curious places\u201d in the world. These include a handful of Jewish destinations, such as the last operating synagogue in Afghanistan and the Old Jewish Cemetery of Sarajevo, which has only recently been cleared of landmines placed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The book will be the first hand-held edition of the web-based &#8220;atlas&#8221; of the same name, which Foer and Thursa co-founded, where Morton serves as associate editor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2cjl84w\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Leave Me<\/strong><\/a> (Algonquin)<br \/>\n<em>By Gayle Forman<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-32451 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Forman_Leave_Me\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me.jpg 1689w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 199px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 199\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-32451 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Forman_Leave_Me\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Forman_Leave_Me.jpg 1689w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>There\u2019s a bit of fantasy lived out in the first adult novel by best-selling YA author Forman. Frazzled mom and magazine editor\u00a0Maribeth Klein \u2014 who is recuperating from a heart attack that she didn\u2019t realize she\u2019d had because she was so busy taking care of her husband and\u00a0twins\u00a0\u2014 decides to just up and leave it all behind. In the course of relishing and reconsidering her newfound freedom and new relationships, Maribeth finds some of that perspective that always seems to come with distance. Though Forman ties up all loose ends YA style, this understatedly feminist, character-driven novel about facing fears and owning up to secrets is highly readable and relatable.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2ctLD51\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Mischling<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(Lee Boudreaux Books)<br \/>\n<em>By Affinity Konar<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another dramatic, beautifully rendered tale that begins at Auschwitz in 1944. Pearl and Stasha Zagorski are identical twins \u2014 part of the experimental population of siblings\u00a0known as \u201cMengele\u2019s Zoo\u201d who were subjected to horrors that would be unimaginable if Konar didn\u2019t imagine them so vividly in her debut novel. After Pearl disappears and the camp is soon liberated by the Red Army, Stasha pairs up with a boy, also a twin, who is driven by vengeance and the hope that his lost sibling\u00a0is also still alive. In their quest through devastated Poland and a world forever changed, the story manages to go beyond the expected in Holocaust fiction.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"10%20awesome%20books%20for%20the%20Days%20of%20Awe%20%28and%20after%29\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7135,3,640],"tags":[7803,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32452,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448\/revisions\/32452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}